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Are Insiders Buying Bank of Commerce Holdings (NASDAQ:BOCH) Stock?

We’ve lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So before you buy or sell
Bank of Commerce Holdings
(
NASDAQ:BOCH
), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

What Is Insider Selling?

It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.

We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. For example, a Colombia University
study
found that ‘insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own company’s stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers’.

Bank of Commerce Holdings Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Chairman of the Board Lyle Tullis made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$231k worth of shares at a price of US$11.54 each. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company’s future. We generally consider it a positive if insiders have been buying on market, even above the current price.

In the last twelve months insiders paid US$762k for 66.75k shares purchased. Overall, Bank of Commerce Holdings insiders were net buyers last year. Their average price was about US$11.41. This is nice to see since it implies that insiders might see value around current prices (around US$10.74). The chart below shows insider transactions over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

Bank of Commerce Holdings Insiders Bought Stock Recently

It’s good to see that Bank of Commerce Holdings insiders have made notable investments in the company’s shares. In total, insiders bought US$475k worth of shares in that time, and we didn’t record any sales whatsoever. This makes one think the business has some good points.

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it’s a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Bank of Commerce Holdings insiders own 6.7% of the company, currently worth about US$12m based on the recent share price. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Do The Bank of Commerce Holdings Insider Transactions Indicate?

It is good to see recent purchasing. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. Given that insiders also own a fair bit of Bank of Commerce Holdings we think they are probably pretty confident of a bright future. Of course,
the future is what matters most
. So if you are interested in Bank of Commerce Holdings, you should check out this
free
report on analyst forecasts for the company
.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at
editorial-team@simplywallst.com
.